


this is a growing season

by Iske



Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, THIS IS YOUR OFFICIAL WARNING, after reading this YOU WILL BE, gratuitous amounts of physical affection, physical affection, please take note of the warning tag, road trip to complete the master sword trials yay!!, the other boys are featured but this is Wild and Sky centric hours BABEY, things get gnarly towards the end of the fic, you touch-starved?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:06:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24895129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iske/pseuds/Iske
Summary: ‘Take care, young heroes.’Wild winked back up at the Great Deku Tree.“No promises.”And with that, the Master Sword was put to rest just like before, leaving the pair to vanish in thin strips of blue light.
Relationships: Sky & Wild (Linked Universe)
Comments: 55
Kudos: 386





	this is a growing season

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own the Linked Universe AU (that belongs to jojo56830 on tumblr) and I do not own The Legend of Zelda franchise (that belongs to Nintendo)
> 
> The title of this work is derived from a poem by butterflies rising titled 'a growing season'

Drifting atop unbearably soft, red feathers, Wild knows that one would typically be gazing out in awe at the scenery. The picturesque blue of the sky above them - embracing them - and the dreamy swell and fall of the clouds should all be absolutely enchanting right now, the same way they were leaving everyone else breathless. 

His eyes however, remained firmly glued to the blue and gold strapped to Sky’s back.

Loosely threading his fingers through the ruffled feathers of Sky’s loftwing, he kept his head pointed down - scarred brow furrowing the longer he stared.

Anyone with as much common sense as a _peanut_ could tell that the Master Sword was so much more than a sword to Sky. 

And Wild kept breaking it.

Kept breaking - _shattering_ \- Sky’s dearest friend.

Leaning forward, he gently rested his head between the skyloftian’s shoulder blades with a dull thud and a sombre sigh. Chest heavy, full to the brim with guilt and shame, he continued to watch the Master Sword, but made sure not to touch - _bursting into bright blue pieces, eyes flicking in horror between his hand and a silent sailcloth_. 

He could feel it swelling with each breath in and each breath out; the need to apologise. 

He had to apologise for his negligence, he had to apologise for failing Sky’s friend - for leaving it to rot and wither until it reached such a fragile state, for failing all other heroes before him who managed to keep the sword in perfect condition, for failing Sky - he _had_ to.

“Wild?” His guide whispered through the rushing breeze, turning slightly to look over his shoulder at the Champion’s slumped figure, “Is something wrong?”

Green-blue eyes shut tight, he gave a weak shake of his head.

“‘M fine.” 

Silent amidst the soft, ambient sounds of the wind, Sky shuffled around and tucked his leg up and beneath him. Reaching across and Wild watched as a gentle palm covered his hand, the touch so careful and considerate that he couldn’t not lift his head to look up at the hero - long, golden locks tangling together, getting caught up in the rush of air and ozone as Sky took them higher and higher.

“We’ll be landing soon, okay?”

Ah Sky, sweet Sky. Always trying to help and be there for others. That wasn’t the problem.

Looking away - _he can’t stop himself from glancing at the sword once more_ \- Wild stares off into the clouds, trying to ignore the way pale blue eyes burn into his skin, setting his scars on fire.

“Okay.”

There was only one way Wild would be able to properly apologise to Sky and make everything better, a way to combat his recklessness if anyone ever thought it a good idea to let him handle the Master Sword ever again. Memories of a gnarled face, whispering canopies and loud, ringing words swirled in his mind. All he had to do was wait until he was home, then he could prove that he… 

Wild closed his eyes.

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━  
  
  


Peeking through ruddy, autumnal vines, Sky watched the flying enemies as they whirred by, streaks of red light shining down onto the ground and glancing off of rocky pillars, scouring for signs of life beneath the natural calm.

“I cannot be bothered fighting those things.” Legend grumbled even as he rifled through his bag for weapons.

“D’you think we could just sneak around?” Hyrule murmured, shrinking back as a beam of red drew too close for comfort.

“I know I can!” Beaming with his usual bright confidence, the little pirate shoved up his sleeves and marched forward. A solid hand landed on his shoulder and Twilight pulled him back with a firm yank and worried brow.

“Not happening.”

Turning away from the ensuing whines and grumbles, Sky looked back behind the group. Gaze scraping the walls of stone and cracks where grass and soil bled through, he locked onto Wild’s cloaked figure. Silently poised up and beyond a small flight of stairs, he stood with his head bowed to a glowing, ancient statue of Hylia.

“He’s praying.” Sky whispered to himself, voice barely above a gentle summer breeze, let alone the commotion of the Links around him.

And yet, Time heard him nonetheless.

With one lonely eye, he turned to follow Sky’s astonished stare, frowning as he took in Wild’s unusually quiet demeanour.

“So he is.” He grunted.

“I’m gonna go check on him,” Sky hummed, absently patting Time’s arm as he walked past, “you can deal with Four.”

“Wha- _Four_.” 

Registering the warning growl and the following sheepish chuckle of the smallest hero in the back of his mind - caught trying to sneak out and around the guardians - Sky walked through the dim passage, boots skimming over patches of tender green and fingers brushing against the damp arc of the walls. Familiar. The further in he walked the more familiar each rock became. 

Drifting away from the wall, he studied the low archway eroded by the ages before stepping through and into better light. Small waterfalls bled through the walls, echoing off of cracked pillars, adorned with chipped, winged sconces. A flight of stairs opening up to a grey sky, the wind danced over the water, the plants swayed. 

“The...Spring of Earth?”

Swallowing back his whisper as best he could, Sky climbed up the steps with wide eyes, spinning to observe the room as he went - spotting various connections between now and then.

They had all seen the Temple of Time before, a decaying and crumbling husk of its former glory - a relic from Time’s era. However, Sky had never once thought that there would be traces of his own time in Wild’s own version of Hyrule. He thought he was too far back, lost to the centuries...nothing more than someone else’s name.

Coming to a stop on the now eroded platform, edges made smooth by the gentle lapping of the Spring, he looked to Wild’s slumped figure, submerged to his waist in water, dark cloak floating amongst the water lilies.

“Let me get this right, please…” He could hear the Champion whisper, voice fractured, caving under the weight of the grief and guilt that rang loud in his words.

“Wild?” Sky crouched at the edge of the Spring. Mind flashing back to red feathers and a head heavy with inner turmoil between his shoulder blades, he extended a hand, “Wild, step out of there, you’ll catch a cold.”

Stiff and unsteady, Wild turned to look up at Sky, twin whirlpools of ocean blue and forest green peeking through messy, splitting strands of blond. His clasped hands fell to the water, splashing it up onto his tunic with sparkling droplets.

“Sky, can I...can I ask you for a favour?” He croaked, holding his breath.

Blinking through his concern, Sky let his hand fall back into his lap and settled down on his knees.

“Of course.”

“You’re not gonna like it.”

“I doubt that-”

“Can I borrow the Master Sword?”

Frozen and stunned, Sky could do nothing but watch as Wild turned to fully face him, water sloshing around his waist and clinging to his clothes, fingers fidgeting with the soggy hem of his tunic.

“Just for a day! I won’t even use it or anything! At least, I don’t think I will be using it, but it’s _really_ important! I won’t break it, I promise!”

Desperate and overwhelmingly sincere, his words pummelled Sky’s feather-soft heart. Sitting still for a moment longer, he collected his thoughts before wordlessly unstrapping Fi from his back and holding her out above the water for Wild to take. Through the rustle of the trees behind him, Wild opened and closed his mouth, stunned noises tumbling out from the confusion clogging his throat.

“Wh- really? Just like that?” He asked, voice delicate with overwhelming astonishment.

“Of course, she is as much your companion as she is mine.”

Cautiously wading forward, Wild reached out and took hold of Fi and her sheath. He cradled her delicately, nervously watching his hands - taking care to not hold her too tight, breaking her then and there. Warmed by the attentiveness, Sky smiled and twined his hands together in his lap.

“Can I ask why you need her?”

Tense under all those scraggly strands, Wild stared into the water.

“I uh - there’s this trial.”

“Trial?”

“Yeah,” Wild mumbled, watching Sky’s reflection, “the Deku Tree told me about it, it’s - well, if I complete the trial, the Master Sword is supposed to get stronger.”

Breathless, Sky dropped his gaze to where Fi rested against Wild’s chest with raised eyebrows, watching as nervous hands turned her over and over. She remained silent.

“Really?” Quiet, curious - could she truly be upgraded further?

Wild nodded, glancing down to Fi and biting his lip in thought. Sky studied him, patient and steady, as Wild flitted from idea to idea. The crease between his brows deepened the longer he spiralled, the longer his thoughts held him captive.

“Wild?” He interrupted, taking care to be gentle - he didn’t want to scare his fellow hero off.

“I, um,” Came the beginning of a reply, words startled out of him by Sky’s voice, “sorry, I was just…”

“It’s okay, I just had another question.”

“Oh, sure.” Wild looked up with a shiver, the chill of the water lancing through him.

“Would it be alright if I came with you? It’s not that I don’t trust you,” Sky added quickly as he saw Wild deflate just the slightest amount, “I just want to be there for this. The Master Sword is my friend, so if there’s a way to help her gain her strength back, then I’d like to help.”

Another gust of wind trips and falls into the Spring, trapped by arching walls, it’s left to dance along the water. Kicking up Wild’s cloak, hood and hair, toying with Sky’s sailcloth, it gives the pair something to focus on as Wild wonders - the Deku Tree probably meant for him to take this trial alone. To prove that he could be the hero everyone prayed for once more. Could it prove he had the right to that title and respect? That right to hold the Master Sword...that right to Sky’s friendship?

When the trial had first been put before him, he’d been scared. He’d vanished from the Lost Woods and avoided the area, choosing to chase down horses and clear monster camps for months on end instead. Petals twirling like fairies, racing downhill into battle - nights spent under fire and under rain...wasn’t it enough to have pulled the Master Sword free? Why did they still ask him to prove himself? Would he ever be enough? For anyone?

“I think...I’d like to have you there, but I don’t know if it’s allowed.” He admitted.

“Well,” Sky shot him an easy smile, “we can always ask the Deku Tree, right? You said he was the one that told you about the trial, yeah?”

“Yeah. Yeah, that’s...we can do that.”

“Okay,” a soft but calloused hand reached out to Wild, hovering above the water in front of him, catching specks of light, “let’s go get the others somewhere safe and then we can travel out to the Deku Tree, just the two of us.”

“Yeah.” Wild felt a whisper of a smile appear on his face as he waded forward and took Sky’s hand.

  
  
━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━  
  


“And you’re sure you have everything? Potions? Weapons?” 

“Yes Legend,” Wild smirked, flicking through his Sheikah slate and scanning the various rows and columns of items, “I have enough potions and meals _and_ I have just about 100 of each ingredient I could ever possibly need.”

The group stood - and sat - outside the East Akkala Stable, drinking in the diminishing ocean air as it travelled further inland. It was a perfect day for travel, unusually sunny and calm in the Akkala region, if Wild and Sky wanted to set out then there was no better day. The other Links watched on, checking and double-checking the pairs inventories as they spent the morning preparing under mottled red and yellow trees.

“And your weapons?” Legend scowled, hands on his hips, nose twitching uncomfortably from the salt wafting in from the east.

“I’ll pick up some more on the way over there.” Wild waved him off.

“You guys aren’t teleporting?” Twilight interrupted with a raised eyebrow, turning away from where he stood anxiously brushing Epona down.

“Yeah, like I said, I gotta pick up some more weapons. Anyway, Sky wants to see more of the land.”

“You two need to relax,” Warriors laughed tightly, slinging an arm around Legend and ruffling the fading pink of his hair, “Wild knows what he’s doing, this is his home turf, besides, Sky will be there to keep him in line.”

“Oh I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” they all turned to face Time as he smiled from where he sat, slowly braiding Four’s hair with Wind’s help, “last time we were in Wild’s era, Sky decided it would be a brilliant idea to trek around the Tabantha region without shoes.”

“I-It was one time!!” Sky spluttered, face a brilliant, burning red as he fumbled with his potions.

“What about when you decided to fish with your bare hands?”

_“Amali told you?!!”_

Wild patted Sky on the back with a proud grin as Time roared with laughter.

“Great,” Four groaned playfully, “there’s three of them.”

“Who’s the third?” Hyrule asked, eyes wide.

The group turned as one to stare at him, laughing loudly when Hyrule’s face followed suit and set itself aflame. The sprite buried his head behind his knees, desperately hiding his embarrassment with his arms as Four patted him on the back in faux consolation, eyes sparkling with all the colours of the rainbow.

Leaves rustling above him, dancing to their own quiet beat, Wild turned away from the lively group and back to Sky. Fading from a bright beam to tender fondness, he smiled as he watched Sky finish packing his potions. Standing up, he flicked through his slate - skimming over rows of ingredients and armour until he found the category he was after. With a light tap on Sky’s shoulder, he gestured to his screen.

“Which weapon would you like?”

“Oh!” Sky jumped up and leaned over his cloaked shoulder, “I hadn’t even thought about that. Hm, let’s see.”

Scanning through the spears and eyeing the korok leaf with baffled blue eyes, he came to a stop, his finger hovering over the only Royal Guard’s Sword in Wild’s possession.

“Would it be alright if I-?”

“Go for it, I can just rob the castle later for more.”

_“Excuse me?!”_

Wild stuck his tongue at Warriors, taking great satisfaction in the Captain’s dismayed expression, mouth agape in horror.

“Do I just - oh!” 

With a curious tap, the sword appeared in a flash, startling Sky into a small yelp as he floundered with the blade, catching it in unsteady hands and cradling it to his chest. Sighing with relief, he sheepishly grinned at Wild.

“You two sure you want to go it alone?” Time interrupted them, stepping past Four and Wind with a concerned frown.

“Yeah,” Wild nodded, “I mean, I don’t even know if Sky is allowed to come with me, but I feel like I have better odds in convincing the Deku Tree to let him join if it’s _just_ him with me, y’know?”

Wilting slightly, Time sighed, “I know. I...you two be careful. No unnecessary heroics on your way there, this trial is most likely not going to be easy.”

“Sir, yes sir.” Sky chirped cheekily, lazily saluting their tired leader.

“And you’re _sure_ you have everything?” Legend asked, stepping out from behind Time with his arms crossed, “Shields? Tools?”

“We’ll be fine,” Wild groaned, “all we need now are horses.”

“I’ve never ridden a horse before!” Sky exclaimed beside him, bouncing with excitement as he adjusted his new sword on his back.

“You’ll love it! I have only the very best horses.” Wild puffed his chest up with pride, linking his arm with Sky’s and guiding him to the stable’s counter, scuffed boots skimming and skipping over the damp earth.

“Uh? Excuse you??” Twilight called out, running his hand through Epona’s mane in reassurance.

Coming to a stop at the bench and waiting for the owner to look up from his logbook, Wild turned to Sky with a worried pout, “Time’s right, this is probably going to be hellish. You sure you still want to come?”

“All the more reason to,” his hold on Wild’s arm tightened, “you shouldn’t have to do this alone.”

With the strong salt of the ocean rolling in from the east and the easy conversation of his brothers behind them, Wild found the strength to nod. Not quite in agreement - part of him still believed this was his sole burden to bear - but relieved all the same.

“Okay.”

  
  
━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━  
  


It wasn’t too long of a trip from the East Stable to its southern counterpart, the road was long and winding with its fair share of bends, but it was a straightforward ride. At least, it would have been if your name wasn’t Link.

“Oh! Wild, is that Eldin Volcano? It looks so much darker in your time period.”

“Sorry Sky, gotta stop and help Chabi for a bit.”

“Oh the view from up there must be incredible! Can we stop for a little while? Do we have the time?”

The pair now rested atop Kanalet Ridge, looking out to the north and slowly working their way through Wild’s supply of apples.

“So we have to go past the Zora domain next?” Sky asked, wiping his chin as he scrolled over the map in the Sheikah slate.

“Yeah, we might even have time to stop in.” Wild answered, or at least he _tried_ to answer with his mouth full. 

An elbow jabbed into his side, leaving him sputtering as he struggled to swallow down his food. 

“Don’t talk with your mouth full!” Sky chided him, finger wagging between them.

While the butterflies fluttered their respectful agreements, Wild just groaned, aiming for annoyed and falling short as the smile taking over his face betrayed his true feelings. A nudge against his shoulder had him twisting around and handing his loyal steed his half-eaten apple.

“You’re such a good girl, Luck. You’re not mean like Sky, you don’t try to make me choke on my food.”

Luck whinnied in commiseration. 

“She only likes you ‘cause you feed her.” Sky sung, mischievous smile bright and dazzling in the unfiltered sunlight.

“Excuse me!! Luck and I have a bond that transcends life and death! Isn’t that right girl?”

Luck finished her apple and trotted away to join Sky’s mount - Deity - without a sound nor a glance in Wild’s direction.

Sky flopped back into the grass laughing.

  
  
━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━  
  


Splashing his face with water, Sky embraced its bracing chill, wide awake once more and fully aware of the way he ached from the waist down. He looked up, distracting himself with the ribs that sat atop the cliffs in front of him and the blue tower further past them. 

Momentarily mesmerised with its pulsing light, he eventually fell back to the water and the stony bank underneath him.

“Sore?” Wild asked, smug as he refilled his waterskin.

“Unbelievably,” Sky sighed, “I miss Rogue.”

Wild looked at Sky with confused blue eyes.

“Rogue? That’s your...loftwing, right?”

“Yup!”

“Y’know, I never asked. Why call him Rogue?”

“Oh, well that’s,” Sky stammered, “I was trying to be smart and, uh-”

“Sky.” Wild cut over him, playfully demanding an answer with a slow-spreading smile.

“In - in the language of the Surface, the word for red is ‘rouge’ and I-”

“You _misspelt_ your loftwing’s name.” Came the second interruption, breathless with a building cackle.

“I was new to the language!” Sky tried to protest, however he went unheard as Wild gave up on holding back his laughter, winded with unbridled joy and startling their rides as they grazed.

It was far too easy and satisfying to shove him into the shallow water.

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━  
  
  
  


Wild breathed out, nice and slow, as he pulled himself out of his daydreams. Memories fading, red skin and shy smiles turning to crystal above him, he eyed Mipha’s statue with a fond tilt of his head.

Bumping into his legs, Zora children dashed past, wet feet slapping the gleaming floor and drawing his gaze to Sidon and Sky. With a snicker, he watched the way they talked, loud and excited and mimicking each other's flailing hand movements.

Sidon swung his arm up against his chest, fist tight and smile blinding. Wild was mildly horrified to see Sky do the same, flourishing his sailcloth for added effect, thoroughly impressing the enthusiastic prince and their young audience.

“Oh boy,” Wild chuckled, looking up to Mipha’s frozen face, the colours above shifting from light blues to perfect pinks, “they’re hopeless.”

  
━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━  
  
  


It was darker now, the sun was yawning and tucking itself in for the night as Sky and Wild pulled into the Woodland Stable just outside of the Lost Woods. Spoiling Deity with one last apple and lovingly attacking her with an onslaught of kisses, Sky handed the black mare off to Wild before venturing off to explore the surrounding area.

“Well now,” Kish beamed from behind the stable’s counter, “there’s a face I haven’t seen in a while.”

_‘Hello Mr Kish, I hope you’ve been well.’_ Wild signed, smiling up at the man from under his hood as the stable owner twisted his moustache.

“Well enough! Been getting plenty more customers now that the Calamity’s gone.” Kish winked and Wild’s smile tilted up into a conspiratorial smirk, “But I’m sure that’s not what you’re here to discuss.”

_‘No, sorry, just wondering if you have enough room for Luck and Deity.’_

“Of course I do! Bring your girls around the side, Breen’ll take them off your hands.”

Wild boarded his horses and, with a quick nod to Breen, stepped back out the front to find Sky leaning against a tree, trailing his gaze along the river below him and up to the shadow of Hyrule Castle. Quietly, Wild approached, carefully stepping up to Sky’s side, Master Sword hanging heavy on his back.

“It’s beautiful,” Sky breathed to him after a moment of awed silence, “I can’t believe…”

_Can’t believe what? That even after all the destruction something survived? That anything managed to survive in the wake of his failures?_

“I can’t believe it’s going to look like this.”

Wide, green-blue eyes stared across to the side of Sky’s face, practically burning holes into his head, but he didn’t return the stare. Instead, he continued to watch the Castle, lovingly seeking out each and every distant line of its crumbling form, eyes dancing up to the spire and down to its destroyed walkways.

For the first time in a long time, Wild found himself unable to say a word to the other Link, so instead of fumbling over apologies or overflowing with garbled praise, he simply took Sky’s hand and dragged him towards the stable - careful not to interrupt his dazed reverie. 

  
  
━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━  
  


Well rested and following the path down its incline, the fog of the Lost Woods lifted around the two - ominous giggles dissipating and giving way to vibrant foliage as they made their way into the heart of the forest. 

Walking further in, small faces in the shape of leaves peeked out from behind logs and trees. Some ducked out of sight with little, squeaky laughs, while some lifted up into the canopies with strange, fluttering windmills. Wild watched as Sky gaped at all of them, giving a friendly wave to the few who didn’t shrink away and startling as he spotted Hestu dancing with his maracas.

“Um.”

“Don’t worry, that’s just Hestu.”

“Okay.” He dragged out the word in confusion, but continued to hold Wild’s hand as he led him through to the central, triangular platform. Coming to a stop, Wild nodded to the weathered trunk in front of them.

Sky looked up and his jaw dropped.

Gnarled lines of timber climbed high into the canopies, illuminated by the unshakeable light of the grove. Leaves shivering with life, contorted roots lifting from the ground...each ripple and groove in the trunk shifted like a wrinkle as the tree slowly woke.

“It’s huge. Like the Great Tree.” He whispered.

“Great Tree?” Wild tilted his head.

_‘Young Hero’_

Jolting back standing at attention, Sky fell stiff and silent as the Great Deku Tree shifted, massive eyebrows lifting and mouth quivering with its echoing words. Wild squeezed his hand supportively.

“Hello Great Deku Tree.” He bowed his head respectfully as wood creaked and groaned.

_‘You have returned to the Forest once more, and not alone I see.’_

“Oh,” Sky gulped, “yes. Hi. Hello. I’m Sky, Wild’s - ah, _Link’s_ friend.”

The Great Deku Tree seemed to bend, looming over the pair and carefully looking Sky up and down, each movement an effort as if it were dragged through molasses. In the silence of the inspection, the koroks began to peek out from the undergrowth and watch the Hero and his friend, gossiping and laughing amongst themselves.

_‘You need not conceal yourself from me, Hero of Old. It is a pleasure to meet you.’_

“Th-the pleasure’s all mine.” Sky blinked numbly, turning to Wild for reassurance and getting a lazy shrug instead.

“Great Deku Tree, we are here to undertake the Trial of the Sword.” He announced over the rustling foliage and mischievous giggles.

_‘The both of you?’_

“Yes.” 

Shuddering with a thoughtful huff and hum, the Great Deku Tree fell silent and still. Sky and Wild stood, hand in hand, the former looking to Wild with eyes open in disbelief.

“Is...is he asleep?” 

“I hope not.” Wild grimaced before calling up to the ancient tree, “Listen, we’re both Heroes of Courage who wield the sword, we both have every right to the trial. I’m not going to leave him behind after he’s travelled all this way, he’s close to the blade and wants nothing but the best for it.”

Groaning dryly, a heavy eyebrow lifted.

_‘You are indeed both heroes...but this trial is designed for one and one alone.’_

“Please,” Sky stepped forward but refused to let go of Wild’s hand, “the Master Sword - _Fi_ \- she’s my friend. If I can do something to help her, make her stronger, then I have to. I have to be there for this.”

Bending and shaking his branches, the Great Deku Tree sighed.

_‘If you were to adhere to the rules of the trial...then I suppose it could not hurt.’_

Sky turned back to Wild with an ecstatic glint in his eyes, smile bright and blinding.

_‘If you wish to disembark now, then place the Master Sword in its pedestal once more, together.’_

Letting go of each other’s hands, Wild drew the Master Sword and rested his free hand on Sky’s shoulder, reassured when the other Link mirrored his pose with a confident grace.

_‘Take care, young heroes.’_

Wild winked back up at the Great Deku Tree.

“No promises.”

And with that, the Master Sword was put to rest just like before, leaving the pair to vanish in thin strips of blue light.

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━  
  
  
  


“What do you think they’re doing? Like now. Like _right_ now.”

Hyrule, pulled out of his trance, looked at Wind where he laid on the ground. The young pirate stared up at the clouds, clearly bored out of his mind. Sheathing his sword, Hyrule wandered over and sat down next to him.

“Probably solving some sort of puzzle, or fighting an enemy.”

“Well duh,” the pirate huffed, “but like, what _kind_ of enemy?”

“Hmm...maybe a lynel? Wild always says that the lynels in his world are pretty scary.”

Wind sat up with a pout, gloomy and unusually lifeless amongst the sway of nature around them.

“I hope they’re okay.”

Hyrule looked down into his lap and fiddled with the hem of his tunic - Wild was reckless and collected scars daily, and Sky was just absent-minded enough to knick himself every time he indulged in a friendly session of wood carving. He could feel his magic thrum under his skin, worried and restless, set alight by his anxiety but left with nowhere to go.

“I hope so too.”

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━  
  
  
  


“Wild.”

“Yeah?”

“Why are we naked?”

Wild looked up from his slate and turned to Sky’s scandalised face, shrugging he murmured, “To take your armour. Put you at your weakest. We still have our underwear anyway, its not _so_ bad.”

“Still! Why couldn’t they just leave us in casual clothes?!” Sky whispered, his mortified tone strangled as he tried to stay quiet and not alert the bokoblins of their presence.

“I dunno, they’re just like that.”

With a huff, Sky slumped against the tree that was polite enough to help hide them as they figured out their next course of action. The lines in the wood painted a fresh scowl on his face.

“The moment we’re out of here, I’m going to have words with the Great Deku Tree.”

“I think this is less him, and more the dead Sheikah monks.”

“I’m going to have words with them then.”

“Sky, they’re dead.”

“Then I’ll make sure I’m extra loud so they can hear me from six feet under.” 

Wild smirked and shuffled closer to the skyloftian, holding his slate out so they could watch the screen together.

“So we’ve lost all our equipment and ingredients, but I’ve still got my runes.”

“Your runes? You mean those things that give you bombs?” Sky relaxed, forgetting his glare and slowly shifting from flustered anger to calm strategizing.

“Well, there’s magnesis and- ugh, whatever. Bombs. Yes. I figure we can just use these to kill the bokoblins and then - once they’re dead - we can steal their weapons.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Sky grunted as he stood up and needlessly dusted himself off, the uncomfortable ache in his legs surging back as a painful reminder, “Ugh, stupid monks. _‘Fortify your mind, body and soul’_ , unbelievable.”

“By Hylia, you’re so crabby. Why’re you never like this around the others?”

“Why bother? Legend’s crabby enough for all nine of us.” Sky smiled, wonderfully sweet and playful. The flutter of its appearance on his face reminding Wild of the birds he’d startled and photographed.

“True.”

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━  
  
  
  


Legend sneezed, obnoxiously loud and shattering the tranquillity of what _would_ have been a perfect reading session if he’d just gone and sneezed somewhere else in Warriors humble opinion.

“Ew.”

“Shove off, pretty boy.” Legend sniffled, “At least I didn’t sneeze _on_ you.”

“I’m supposed to be grateful for common decency? Go sneeze somewhere else, you germ.”

“No. I said I was napping here, and I’m gonna nap here.”

Warriors eyed him as he settled back against his shoulder, burrowing into the bundle of the Captain’s scarf that he’d moulded into a lumpy pillow.

“...you know, if you just wore pants-”

“Shut up, you abominable shit fish or I’ll burn your scarf.”

“You mean the scarf you’re using as a pillow? The same scarf you’re slowly stealing from me and turning into a blanket because you’re cold? Because you refuse to wear pants even in cold weather?” Legend grumbled but didn’t snap back, “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

  
  
━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━  
  


“WILD! BEHIND YOU!”

Flipping away from the Stone Talus as it spun around and slammed its heavy, earthen fists into the ground, Wild followed Sky’s pointed finger. Expecting unseen enemies and fast-approaching danger, he was surprised to find a pair of crates instead. _Metal_ crates. 

Scrambling over the dirt and grass, he bolted towards them, ignoring the crack, boom and following flames of another tossed explosive barrel from Sky. The Stone Talus was slow and Sky was fast, but that didn’t mean Wild could take his time.

Hurriedly flicking through his slate, he pulled up the magnesis rune and locked onto the first metal crate with only half an idea rattling around in his head. Jerking it up into the air and shakily pushing it around with the controls, Wild manoeuvred the metal box until it hovered around the weak spot on the Talus’ back, his plan going unnoticed by the monster as it shuffled menacingly towards Sky.

With a quick pull, the crate clobbered the ore deposit with a loud smack before bursting into pieces - it didn’t matter, the damage was already done and the Talus was shuddering, collapsing at Sky’s feet, completely prone. Wild fumbled over his inventory - _boko spear, spiked boko bat, spiked boko club_ \- and stumbled forward; he had to make it in time, reach the weak spot before it stood up and -

Sky beat him to it.

He skidded to a halt and watched in awe as Sky clambered up the cracks and began to attack the glossy ore deposit with his sad excuse of a bat, relentlessly pulverising the monster even as it stood up. He held on as the tremors of its movement tried to shake him loose, continuing to whack the shiny pillar in desperation.

“Keep hitting it!” Wild yelled, manifesting a bomb and throwing it to the side of the Talus, hoping to distract it and buy Sky more time.

He didn’t need it.

With a final smash that clapped through the room like a sudden burst of thunder - like Farosh on a _really_ bad day - the Talus stumbled and fell, cracking the soil beneath it into splinters. Sky slipped off and dashed over to Wild’s side as it burst into smoke.

“That was. So cool.” Wild panted, wiping the anxious sweat out of his eyes.

Sky beamed over the chime of victory and gestured to the lit up platform, “Shall we?”

  
  
━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━  
  


Time clambered through the underbrush to find Four, sitting cross-legged and so completely absorbed in something he cradled against his chest that he didn’t notice the older Link’s presence until he was sitting beside him.

“What have you got there, smithy?” He grunted, rubbing at his knees as he mirrored Four’s pose.

“Oh! Hey, it’s just someone I found in the grass.” 

“Someone?” 

Time leaned further forward to peek at Four’s hands, confused when he found them empty.

“You won’t be able to see them, only children can.” Eyes dancing and shining, Four lowered his hands to the ground and watched his invisible friend vanish. Time tried to watch for a sign of who he was talking about, hoping to see a kicked up stone or footprint in the dirt, but nothing was disturbed.

“They’re the Minish, I...I didn’t even think they’d be around in Wild’s time but…”

Looking back over at the smallest Link, Time frowned at the bittersweet daze painted over the smith’s face. He reached over and rested a hand on Four’s shoulder, gently pulling him out of his trance with a thoughtful tilt of his head.

“My hair keeps falling in my eyes lately, reckon you could help me out?”

Set alight in all the warm shades of red, Four grinned and shuffled closer.

“Depends, how do you feel about pigtails?”

  
  
━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━  
  


Swinging his bent spear in a wide arc, Sky knocked the last lizalfos into the water, quickly spinning on his heel to shout out to Wild.

“Now!”

Lightning rod raised high above his head, Wild brought it down with a gentle buzz, casting small orbs of electricity into the water below. Sky grimaced as the monsters gurgled and screeched, falling prey to the shocking currents and slowly slumping under the waves, disappearing to the sound of a vibrant chime.

“That was horrifying.” He frowned, pained as he latched his spear onto his back once more - its light, uneven weight a strange and unsettling contrast to Fi’s usual balance.

“But effective.” Wild shivered, rubbing his arms up and down and toeing his way to the edge of the landing, “I’ll grab their weapons, you bust open those crates.”

“Got it,” Sky hummed, taking the offered Sheikah slate and hurrying over to the sound of a splash. Fiddling with the magnesis rune, he lifted the crates and dropped them, rushing forward to grab the arrows that tumbled out before they slipped through the cracks into the water below.

“Found you a better shield!” 

Wandering over with trembling legs, Sky looked down to where Wild bobbed in the water and shot him a thumbs up. 

“Great! Now get out of the water before you lose your toes! It’s _freezing!_ ”

Belting out a stuttering laugh, Wild swam over to the posts and began to make his way up, slipping and losing his grip as he struggled to regain feeling in his limbs. Nearing the top, hands tucked themselves under his arms and heaved, pulling him up and setting him on his feet. 

“You don’t have anything to warm us up, do you?” Words vibrating and tumbling past bruising lips, Sky passed the slate back, stepping around Wild and reaching out to tie up his wet hair.

“I think we picked up some fire arrows a few rooms back.”

Tapping on the cold screen, a bundle of fire arrows appeared in Wild’s hand, tips set alight with the burning magic inside.

“Oooooh.” Sky hummed appreciatively, looking over the Champion’s wet shoulder to stare longingly into the red light.

“Here,” shuffling down to the ground and tugging the other Link with him, Wild huddled close, keeping the fire arrows between them, “this should help.”

The pair sat together in the chilly room, their limbs tentatively recovering the longer they watched the arrows, almost lost in a daze as they followed the beats of magic with their breathing. Breaking him out of his stupor, Wild startled when Sky flopped his head onto his shoulder.

“Hey,” Wild whispered, gaze softening as he watched pale blue eyes fall half-lidded, “no napping here.”

“Yes, napping here.”

“No, we’ll nap in the next rest room.”

“What if there isn’t another rest room?” Sky whined childishly, curling closer to Wild as he dried out.

“There should be...at least I hope so. But we won’t know if we don’t keep going.”

Groaning as Wild stood up, abandoning him to the cold ground, Sky flopped on the damp wood in protest. He buried his face in the planks and refused to acknowledge Wild, even as he bent down and tried to pull him up through the art of persistently tugging.

“Come on! Up we get lazy bones!”

“Nooooooooo.”

A short burst of full-bellied laughter made him almost lose his grip, hurriedly readjusting and continuing to heave Sky up off the floor.

“ _Wiiiild_ ,” came another high-pitched wail, “why are you so mean to me?”

“Because I’m an evil bastard.”

_“Evil.”_ Sky agreed, giving up and slowly rising with unsteady feet. 

Brushing himself down out of habit, he turned wide, wobbling blue eyes and a trembling pout on Wild.

“No. Not that face. Stop it.”

“...”

“ _Stop it,_ you _can’t_ do this to me Sky, you _can’t!_ ”

“...evil.”

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━  
  
  


Breathing in the stale air, Sky rolled onto his side and watched as Wild shivered in his sleep, huddling closer into Sky’s side and mumbling a few, nondescript words. Carefully laying a hand in his long hair, the skyloftian gently stroked the top of his head, reassured when he heard Wild fall back into small, quiet breaths once more.

Sky wanted nothing more than to fall asleep, but the shaky terror of the previous rooms still haunted him. Pitch black rooms, home to a stationary guardian and then to a hinox. Honestly? The latter hadn’t been much of a problem - save for the obvious fumbling through the dark. It was the guardian.

He could feel the sting of its laser in his side as he recalled the glowing eye, bright and beeping through the darkness. They’d felt around for somewhere to hide, tripping over ideas - and themselves - before finally launching a fire arrow and getting a good look at the arena, full of explosives that, eventually, had fallen prey to the guardian’s sharp gaze.

What had previously seemed like a fun trip to restore Fi had reared its ugly face and spat danger at their feet.

Wild whimpered and shuffled closer, burying his face against Sky’s collarbone and huffing mournfully. Sky hugged him and pressed his nose into Wild’s hair, hoping that - somehow - just being here would be enough to put him at ease. He was no Time, he didn’t know the right thing to say, he was terrified of the trauma running deep in Wild’s bones - terrified of the way his normally loud companion would fall quiet, standing to the side, dark clouds filling his mind…

He rubbed small circles into the back of Wild’s neck.

At least, after the paralysing fear had subsided and they’d marched onto the next room, they’d been granted better equipment and even pants...it was sad how happy Sky was about that last development. It was sad how many hurdles there were just to boost the power of the Master Sword - why lock this away? Why hide this from Wild? Why test him with such cruel methods? Hadn’t his brother suffered enough?

Frowning, Sky squeezed his eyes shut and prayed for sleep. 

  
  
━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━  
  


“It’s been three days.” Twilight whined, pacing back and forth behind the stable. 

Snapping his book shut with a defeated sigh, Warriors leaned forward on his knees, “It’s a trial to upgrade the _Master Sword_ , I think it’s going to take a while.”

“Yeah but what if they’re in trouble? What if they’re too injured to continue and we’re not there to help them? I mean, you’ve met Wild - the kid’s far too reckless and, _Goddess_ , sometimes I can’t tell if it’s bravery or just plain stupidity that has him pulling those stunts in battle.”

“Twi-”

“And Sky’s great, you know? But he just gets so lost in his head sometimes, and what if he gets distracted in battle? Bam! Dead. He’s dead isn’t he? They’re both dead. Oh fuck, what are we gonna tell Sun and Flora?!”

“Holy shit Twi,” Warriors groaned, dragging his hands down his face, “you’re a worse worrywart than Legend.”

Refusing to acknowledge the resentful glower that tried to cut through him, Warriors stood up and stretched out his back.

“They’re probably just taking a lot of breaks as they go. You know Sky and how sleepy he gets.”

“Well, yeah-”

“Just take a deep breath, steady yourself and try to think clearly. We’ve all seen them decimate monster hordes before, they’ll be fine.”

Twilight crossed his arms and looked Warriors up and down through narrowed eyes.

“You’re awfully calm about this.”

“Mmhmm,” The Captain nodded, distracted as he marked down the current page he was on.

“...you’re just as worried as me, aren’t you?”

“Oh yeah.”

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━  
  
  
  


Wild fell to the ground with a pained cry, protectively covering his injuries as the guardian scout sparked and exploded in a cloud of smoke and blazing, blue light. He could hear the clatter of Sky dropping his weapons before he saw him slide to the ground in the corner of his eye, panicked hands fluttering all over Wild.

“Apples, apples, apples-” He chanted, snatching the Sheikah slate and rummaging through before a wave of dark, baked fruit crashed on the ground, bouncing off of Wild’s thigh and Sky’s knees.

“Here!” 

Wild took the offered apple with trembling, bloodied hands, tearing into it and relishing the hum of healing that rippled under his skin and began to slowly stitch the gash in his abdomen back together. As he neared the core - grimacing at the metallic bite of his own blood that had snuck its way past his lips - Sky wordlessly handed him another, watching in petrified fright as Wild eventually began to take colour again.

“That was scary.” He murmured, glad to hear a steady hum from Wild in response.

“Yeah,” the Champion croaked, “I hate guardians.”

“I can see why.” Sky huffed a small, tired laugh, barely lifting the mood as Wild finished off his second apple and moved onto a third.

Scanning the area for the next glowing platform, Sky bit his lower lip and frowned.

“We can always take another break-”

“No.” Wild grunted around his food, “Not yet, we have to keep going.”

“Wild, look at yourself. You’re injured and tired and I _know_ you didn’t sleep well last night, so let’s just take a moment to breathe. Okay?”

Looking up with sad, watery eyes, Wild drooped - blond hair limp around his face and shoulders sagging with exhaustion as the sleek grey walls of their cage grew taller and taller into a pulsing, blue abyss.

“Yeah, okay.”

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━  
  
  
  


From hot, stifling air and dancing on burning feet around heated monsters to sudden, mind-numbing silence, the two Links sighed in relief, glad for the break from the moblins, lizalfos, wizzrobe and Talus that had plagued them in previous rooms.

“Here.” Wild grunted with half-lidded eyes, clumsily passing Sky his last baked apple.

“Thanks.” Sky winced, holding the apple with his teeth as he began to catalogue his injuries - burns and abrasions, nothing that some good food couldn’t fix.

Collapsing to the ground and embracing the cool soil, Wild covered his eyes with a limp arm and vaguely gestured to the surrounding area.

“Wanna see if you can find anything?”

“Sure.” 

Sky tripped through the vegetation and inspected a few curled plants, plucking the fruits off their slender branches and giving them a hesitant once over. He couldn’t tell what they were, but he collected as many as he could, half-alive with the hope that Wild would be able to recognise and cook them.

He stepped out from behind an eerily still tree and went to call out to the lone chef, but stopped. Words stuck in his throat, he watched with sad eyes as Wild sat hunched over, hands cradling his head in agony.

Did he have a headache? Was he tired?

“Wild?” He called out, trying to keep his voice low and gentle as he shuffled towards his friend, “What’s wrong?”

Startled out of his stupor, Wild met his concerned gaze with wide, panicked eyes.

“N-Nothing! Sorry, I was just-”

“It’s a rest area, we can take a break if you need.” Sky tried, settling on his knees beside Wild, arms full of red and yellow.

“I know, I’m...sorry.”

“It’s okay, you rest up. I’ll check out the chests and then later we can have something to eat.”

Wild gave him a small nod and laid back down - _head spinning, this was exhausting, but it’s only fair, I have to do this, sorry Sky, I’m so sorry_ \- watching the fruits Sky had collected tumble into a pile before the other Link wandered off to inspect the chests.

Flicking open the locks, he tugged out an axe, a shield and…

“Hylia loves us.” He breathed, delighted eyes dancing over the cloth he lifted out of the chest.

“Mm?” 

“Clothes!!”

“Yay.” Wild cheered sarcastically, snorting when he caught sight of the glare sent his way - piercing and brimming with exhausted admonishment.

“You could try and be a bit happier about this, we won’t be as cold anymore!”

“Yeah, no, it is good. I think we’ll be needing it.” 

Sky blindly tossed one of the colourful tunics over to the Champion before giddily tugging on his own, relishing the snug warmth as it covered his bare chest and arms.

“Of course we needed it, we were _freezing_ before.”

“No, Sky,” pale blue eyes furrowed, confused, and looked over into green-blue, “these are spicy peppers. You can use them to fight off _extreme_ cold.”

Usually rosy cheeks paled in horror.

“It’s going to get even colder?!”

“Why are _you_ so worried? According to Time-”

“It was ONE time!!”

Wild cackled, the healthy spark of joy breathing life back into his bruising eyes, curdled splotches of purple and blue across his skin reinvigorated and trembling with the rise and fall of his chest. He held a hand against his abdomen, long hair fluttering in thick curtains with each shaking laugh. Sky’s heart eased at the sight, relishing the sound as it echoed around the unnaturally stagnant room, startling a stray fairy and unsettling the grass around them.

A brief moment of peace before the inevitable cycle of battle that Sky had learnt to dread and despise would begin anew.

A brief moment of joy before Wild possibly lost himself to the ideas that plagued him all over again.

Ragged brown locks bobbed sadly as Sky cast his gaze to the ground, tracing and tracking the subtle movements of the earth as he tried to ignore the absence of Fi’s familiar weight on his back. 

  
  
━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━  
  


It was horrible.

A grating, cacophonous roar bounced off the walls and around Wild’s head, throwing him for a loop and shaking his grip on his cracked weaponry. _Focus_ , all he had to think about was the timing, just wait for the right moment- 

Charging towards him, the blue-maned lynel hefted its blade into the air, cutting through the still wind and aiming for the Link’s gut. _Steady now_.

Pushing off from the ground, Wild twisted with the momentum, watching with wide eyes as the blade carved through empty space just inches from his nose. He tumbled back down onto the balls of his feet, spinning around, spear at the ready as the lynel turned back to him with angry eyes.

High-pitched and whistling, coming in from his right, Wild watched as an arrow sunk deep into the lynel’s hide, gouging another vicious roar from its chest. 

Fighting to keep his stance and stay ready, he risked a quick glance, catching sight of Sky through the snow as he dashed from tree to tree.

Feeling the thundering beat of the lynel racing towards him on all fours, Wild whipped around, hopping to the side just in time to watch everything slow down. Readjusting his hold on his dragonbone club, he hammered into the lynel’s ribs as hard as he could, swinging desperately as he felt time catch up to him.

Dropping with a pop, sound resurfaced and real time began again.

If he could just-

Oh.

Sheathing his weapons, he ran in a wide arc, watching the monster as it slammed to the ground and lifted its head, fire building and glowing through its throat.

“Sky! Draw its attention!”

There was no response but there was no need for one, in one second Sky had been hidden, and in the next he was dashing out into the field, capturing the lynel’s attention with the glint of his shield and broadsword.

Wild hid behind a tree, listening out for the first fireball and the heavy thud of Sky’s feet on solid ground, skilfully dodging each blast thrown his way. Sheikah slate resting in his sweaty palms, he clicked on the stasis rune and peeked out behind the tree, watching Sky roll to the side, narrowly avoiding fresh burns. The lynel had its back to him.

Perfect!

Working fast, Wild leapt out and locked onto the lynel, capturing it with his rune just as it began to turn towards him. 

“GET HIM!” He shouted to Sky, watching as the yellow glow coating its skin flickered and began to chime loudly, quickly counting down until the beast was released.

Nodding, Sky rushed forward and carved into the blue fur and by Hylia, was he _fast_. 

Wild was no stranger to the superior speed Sky held but it was still incredible to see at work every single time. How he could move the blade from left to right in what felt like a single blink, sliding his positioning to allow for more grace and reach, so completely fluid and constant...Wild wondered if this was what the others saw when he went into a flurry rush; if he looked even half as deadly as Sky did.

Yellow light shattered with a flash and Wild snapped out of his trance.

“RUN!” He warned Sky, gut churning as the hero ran for his life, twisting on his heel with a wince that left Wild reeling.

Desperate, he pulled out a bomb and threw it at the lynel’s feet, drawing its ire and giving Sky a chance to breathe. He barely registered a grateful glance before he was back to patiently dodging the vicious strikes thrown at him.

Sometimes it was difficult, and sometimes he’d get so lost in his shame and count the scars that littered his left side - half-lidded eyes dim under the glow of the Sheikah technology, caged between plain slate walls...He’d look over at Sky and be both grateful he was there and ashamed for having dragged him into this mess.

Sky didn’t have to prove anything.

He was a hero - _the_ Hero.

He shouldn’t have had to suffer the trials of a failure, but he had come anyway. He had come because he’s close to the sword - he had come because he didn’t want Wild to be alone. 

_Rushing from Divine Beast to Divine Beast, reuniting with ghosts, lost in the wilderness, lost to his thoughts, straying from crowds and words - he’d always been alone. Testing himself alone. Pushing himself alone. Proving himself alone._

Dancing between the loud swings of a savage blade, Wild looked across burnt grass to where Sky stood, arrow notched and ready.

He wonders - when this is said and done, and he finally explains and apologises to Sky - if this could still last. If they could still be friends, _brothers_.

An arrow digs into tough hide and Wild can’t afford to think anymore.

  
  
━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━  
  


“Hyrule, step aside.”

“No.”

_“Hyrule.”_

“No. You need to rest.”

“But-!”

“I know Twi, I’m worried about them too, but at the end of the day they’re both fully capable Heroes of Courage. Have a little faith in them.”

“...”

“...”

“I can track them, please, I won’t be gone long-”

_“Twilight!”_

“FINE!”

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━  
  
  
  


Reforming in bright blue swirls and ready to call it a day, Sky and Wild froze.

Nine pairs of wide eyes and the single glowing eye of a guardian turned on them.

“SHIT!”

Loud and angry, the animalistic din rang out alongside the steady beeping, red laser locking on and chasing them as the pair began to skirt around the arena.

Looking back and watching as the horde got closer and closer, weapons swinging and roaring with wide, gaping maws, blood and spittle flying from their tongues, oh _no-_

“Wild! What were those arrows?! That you were saving for _DIRE_ circumstances?!”

Thoughts collecting and sparking, Wild haphazardly pulled out his slate, swiping through to his arrows with shaking hands.

“Ancient arrows! It makes monsters vanish!”

Sky looked at him with wide, disbelieving eyes.

_“WHAT?!”_

“I WAS SAVING THEM IN CASE WE NEEDED THEM!!”

“WE KINDA NEED THEM NOW!!!”

Wild tapped the arrows out, dropping a few with nervous hands but sharing what he had with Sky as they weaved through the trees. Head spinning, thoughts racing, something inside him trembling with fear, Wild pieced together as much of a plan as he could.

“I’LL CLIMB UP TO THE GUARDIAN AND SHOOT DOWN FROM THERE, THINK YOU’LL BE OKAY?!”

Eyes wobbling with uncertainty, Sky nodded anyway. Wild shoved the Sheikah slate into his hands and split off. Running out from under the sparse canopies, a red light locked onto him instantly. High-pitched beeping dragged him back to wet fields and harsh breathing. Changing direction at the last second, he fought back a flinch as the heat struck the ground next to him, dirt and grass flying up in flames.

Leaping onto the tower, he climbed as fast as he could, switching sides often to keep Sky in his line of sight. 

Every now and again, there’d be a hint of brown hair ducking around trees and vanishing beneath them. Then, Wild would recognise the unmistakable sound of an ancient arrow and suddenly a horse, free of its rider, would barrel out and away from the unseen fight.

Wild turned away and reached up to the top of the tower, pulling himself up with a burst of adrenaline he readied an arrow. Staring down the menacing, corrupted eye that aimed at him, he stuck his tongue out at the memory of death. Beeping growing louder, heartbeat getting faster. The ancient arrow arced through the short space between them. Colliding and bursting. Sparks and smoke flew. Springs and gears falling out of place, the guardian collapsed with a sad whirr.

Forgetting his usual itch to collect the rare parts, Wild threw himself to the edge of the platform, notching another arrow he crouched and watched the edge of the treeline, waiting for a glimpse, a chance-

Static screaming, locking up and spasming at the same time, Wild watched as the world flashed around him. Electricity dancing across his skin, his fingers spread and bent at awkward angles, dropping his bow and arrow with a hollow clatter. Gurgling. Heart tightening. Throat closing. He felt his hair spike up in odd directions. Pain and shock rang loud within him before quickly vanishing. Slumping to the floor of the platform, Wild blearily scanned the ground below him.

Twisted bow and white mane, the lynel stood, silent and steady as it aimed another volley at him.

“Fuuucck.” Wild drawled, tongue heavy in his mouth.

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━  
  
  
  


Sky was pretty proud of himself, having slowly worked his way through the group of bokoblins he was now left with two more. Smirking as he notched another ancient arrow - oh, he _loved_ these arrows - he leapt out from behind a tree, aim true and ready to release-

A gurgling scream echoed behind him.

Loosing the arrow, blue light sadly arcing far over his confused target, Sky whipped around and watched as Wild plummeted to the ground, sparks dancing across his skin and body convulsing painfully.

_“WILD!”_

Rushing forward, bow slack in his shaking hands, Sky tried to think of a plan. If he had his sailcloth would he be able to catch him? Can he catch him anyways? Would Wild survive that? Would Sky?

Flapping out in Wild’s tense and trembling hands, his paraglider snapped to life. He wobbled and drifted the remaining few feet between him and the ground. Breathless with relief and the sudden void left behind by his panic, Sky watched as Wild slumped to ground, groaning and unsteady on his knees.

Ear-splitting.

Heavy.

Angry.

Sky raised his bow to the lynel as it glared down at Wild. With a fresh ancient arrow notched, Sky took great satisfaction in watching it fly. Steady and straight, it burst against the lynel’s temple, sucking it in and vanishing with a gruesome crunch and howl.

He looked down to Wild, smiling as his fellow hero lifted his head to shoot him a quivering, but grateful-

_CRACK_

  
  
━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━  
  


_Sky Sky Sky Sky Sky Sky Sky Sky_

Frozen. Skin tingling and ears ringing from the dying cries of the lynel, Wild watched as the hilt of a spear slammed into the back of Sky’s head. Pale blue rolling backward, toothy sneer, thundering hooves-

_“Let’s go get the others somewhere safe and then we can travel out to the Deku Tree, just the two of us.”_

He could feel himself stand. He could hear himself snarl.

Knuckles white. Feet pounding. The guardian sword on his back is thrown with a vicious spin, killing one of the bokoblins right between its eyes. 

Rearing its captive steed on its hind legs, the last monster tried to run. 

Bending down, taking his bow and an ancient arrow from his quiver, Wild stood over Sky and struck. Blood boiling, watching the blue shine over the arena, a quiet death. Suddenly, all that was left to listen to was his own haggard breathing, ripped apart by protective fury.

_Sky_

Falling to his knees by Sky’s side, he threw away his bow and turned the downed hero over, hands cradling his head and feeling the bloody dent in his skull.

“No, no no no.”

Fingers slick with red, he took the slate from Sky’s belt and swiped through, tapping hard on a fairy and watching with weepy eyes as it sprung to life above his friend. His _friend_ . _His brother._

“Please,” he whispered wetly, tears building and flowing as the adrenaline left his system - left him bereft, “please help him, please.”

Feral but kind, the fairy wasted no time fluttering over Sky, dusting him with its sparkles of magic, giving as much light as it could to his wounds before dancing out of sight, dim and quiet.

Wild waited. 

Waited for a breath. 

A movement. 

Eyelids fluttered. 

Disturbed. 

Awoken.

“Sky?” He croaked, tears falling and marking Sky’s tunic in damp circles.

With a groan, eyes opened fully and drank in the sight of Wild beside him, snivelling and hiccuping through the broken rhythm of his breathing. Confusing swirls of green and blue left wide with tentative hope.

“That sucked.” Sky rasped, trying to wear a smile that could reassure Wild but having the air knocked out of him before it could fully form. Chest squeezed tight with relieved arms, face covered in familiar messy hair - stray locks slipping into his smile as he laughed - he reached up and returned Wild’s hug with sleepy satisfaction. 

“Yeah.” 

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━  
  
  
  


Sinking into the ground and rising again, awash with azure, Sky and Wild squinted as their eyes adjusted to the dark room.

“Is this…?”

Trailing off, Sky looked all around them, tracing elegant, luminous blue carvings and constellations that lit the room. He followed the arc of the cavern up and down in awe, taking in the sleek floating steps ahead of them and the raised platforms marked with crystal torches.

“I think we finished.” Wild whispered, the slightest hint of a smile turning up the corners of his mouth and lifting his puffy eyes.

“Thank Hylia,” Sky sighed, pressing his free hand to his chest before catching sight of Wild’s raised eyebrow, “What? That was hell!” 

“Oh, no arguments here.” Lifting his right hand with a placating and open palm Wild slowly turned away and looked up the path, frowning at an ominous blue box that waited at the end of the road.

Sky followed his gaze and bit his bottom lip.

“What’s that?”

“Should be the monk in charge of this trial,” Wild hummed, shrugging nonchalantly before tugging the hand he held, “come on.”

Footsteps clicking against the slate steps, Sky walked behind Wild, his mind fluttering over the building, turbulent storm of his emotions. He wanted to feel nothing more than relief, to give into exhaustion and rest easy, knowing that their job was done. That Fi would be restored and that Wild would never have to do something like this ever again. But he couldn’t ignore the slow crackle of worry combining with renewed frustration, simmering and mounting through each and every level - with each sad sigh and nightmare that Sky had caught in the corner of his eye, with each downcast gaze, lowered head...each moment of inner turmoil carefully locked away, spilling out at the seams.

The heaviness of his legs and eyes forgotten, Sky marched forward, reinvigorated with fury.

Climbing the last flight of steps in single-file with Sky refusing to let go of Wild’s hand, they lined up in front of the pulsing blue, square shield. Carefully stretching out his bloodied fingers, Wild tapped the crying eye, the slight pressure against the wall causing it to burst into beautiful blue segments of light, each spiralling away, easing to a stop midair and fading away. Sky didn’t bother watching - couldn’t tear his gaze away from the seven withered monks hidden inside.

Humming, resonating through the stale air, Sky could hear empty words ring loud.

_You have done well…_

_The depth of your heroism is beyond question._

Glare deepening, Sky squeezed Wild’s hand tighter as the Champion moved forward, cautious and side-eyeing the monks that sat around him.

_We are the ones who prepared this trial, following a revelation from the Goddess Hylia._

_To the one who has overcome the Trial of the Sword...you have proven your hand worthy-_

“Excuse me?” Sky hissed, “ _Worthy?_ He was already worthy!!”

“Sky.” Wild whispered, voice low in warning as he looked around at all the monks.

_-of the legendary Master Sword._

“No, Wild this isn’t- this isn’t fair! They have no right!” Twisting and turning - a hurricane of a man, disturbing dead air - Sky pinned his outrage on the monk closest to him, “Wild has _already_ proved he is _more_ than worthy to wield Fi - to have access to her true strength, and you dare sit there, watch him go through hell and _deny him?!_ He’s defeated this - this, fuck! Wild, what was it called again?!”

“Uh, um,” scars catching blue, falling back to empty pools of restoration in his shock, he fell over his words, “C-Calamity Ganon.”

“He’s _defeated_ Calamity Ganon!” Hands balled into tight fists, Sky fought to keep them at his side, “He _died_ standing up against that thing and then he got back up and he _kept fighting!!_ He made his choice each time, and he chose to save Hyrule! So don’t you dare sit there and say he’s only _just_ become worthy of Fi! Don’t you fucking dare!!”

Consumed by shock, the knot in his stomach unfurling with a slight flutter, Wild watched in bewildered admiration as Sky grew louder, face redder, hurling his words like a blade at the withered bodies of the ancient monks and - _did one of them just flinch?_

_Now that the hero-_

“Don’t ignore me!” Sky screeched, reeling back like he’d just been slapped, “Did you even listen to a single word I said?! Wild _is_ worthy! He doesn’t need to prove himself to you or anyone!! He’s incredibly selfless and kind and wonderful and he’s _worthy_ , damn it!”

**_...I can tell you’re the real deal. You must have seen a battle or two._ **

**_That was so cool! You really put a licking on that thing, Link!_ **

**_You are, from this moment on, a true friend of the Gerudo!_ **

**_Oh, and have I mentioned how incredible you are? And how thankful I am? Because you are! And I am!_ **

Memories resonating, there’s something heavy and warm settling in his chest, growing in the wake of Sky’s rage.

**_Y’know, I never stopped believing in you!_ **

**_I do suppose you’ve proven your value as a warrior._ **

**_I knew you wouldn’t let us down, Link._ **

**_Thank you. For I am now allowed by this freedom...to be with you once again._ **

A sharp breath in, insides quaking, one more hit and he’ll shatter-

**_Link...you may not be at a point where you have fully recovered your power or all of your memories, but courage need not be remembered...for it is never forgotten._ **

Legs buckling beneath him, Wild gave into the riptide of emotions dragging him under, barely holding on to hear and see Sky yell at the monks as they dissipated, breaking off into small flecks of light and scattering on an invisible wind.

They were all such good friends, _Sky_ was such a good friend - believing in him, trusting him, motivating him. By his side through the worst of times. Choosing to be by his side through _this,_ hand outstretched above water.

“No! Don’t just _disappear!_ Get back here! I’m not done with you!” Sky dove forward, leaning onto a now empty podium and trying to snatch the embers of the dead with his hands. Watching, incredulous, as they slipped between his fingers, he stood back with a pointed stomp and groaned in frustration.

“Unbelievable!” He grunted, kicking at the ground, “They just disappear! What assholes!! Just you wait, when I die, I’ll wait as long as it takes to track these guys down and give them a piece of my mind! I’ll...I...Wild?”

Name so soft after feverish ranting, Wild can’t help but look up through fresh tears and track the way Sky immediately rushes over to him, joining him on the floor with suddenly gentle hands and worried eyes.

“Wild? Oh no, did I say something wrong? Did I cross a line? Is everything okay? Do you-?”

“I’m sorry,” he wheezed, feeling his fingers curl and cut against the slate beneath him, feeling his arms begin to quiver under the weight of his memories, his guilt - the ache of apology, “I’m _so_ sorry Sky, I-”

“Woah, hey, it’s okay Wild, this isn’t your fault-”

“I’m sorry I kept breaking the sword,” Wild spoke over him, his courage trembling at Sky’s sudden silence, “I’m sorry I kept making you upset and being reckless with it, I-I know the sword means a lot to you so I’m sorry I keep letting you down, I’m sorry I’m not good enough b-both as a friend and a hero, I-I’m so _sorry-_ ”

Arms thrown around him, pressed into a familiar shoulder, Wild felt his thoughts grind to a halt before collapsing into tears; overflowing with guilt, wanting this hug but conflicted between what he wanted and what he deserved.

“You have _never_ let me down.” Absolute, steady, iron-clad will, “Not once.”

“But I kept-!”

“I know. I know, and you’re right. It did upset me. Thinking back on it, it still upsets me, but that was never your fault Wild. The Master Sword, she’s...she’s old now. She’s been fighting against evil for so long, it’s not unthinkable that she’d break every now and again. I mean, she doesn’t break _for good_ , she always comes back in the end.”

Nodding, numb and desperate, Wild buries himself against Sky, tangling fingers now flaking with dry blood into the back of Sky’s tunic.

“You are good enough. You’re a good hero, an even better friend, and an absolutely amazing baby brother.”

Kicking open the gate, raining and flooding, stomping and storming, circling, endangering - the anguish of more than a hundred years tumbled out onto Sky’s shoulder. He shook, he screamed his pain to the empty space, he relished the slow circles rubbed into his back, he clung to the low murmurs of reassurance - staring out at a castle wrapped in malice with Sky’s words humming in his ears.

“Everything’s okay now,” a careful kiss against his temple, “you did great.”

Hiccuping, mind slowing, eyes and limbs heavy, Wild breathes in the clear blue and rolling clouds.

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━  
  
  
  


With open eyes, he looked up to the low wooden ceiling, following its patterns and curves in a trance before he managed to truly wake his mind and form coherent thoughts. Flopping his head on its side, he looked over to see Sky curled up on his stomach, one arm spread behind him and the other reaching out to hold Wild’s hand.

“No!”

Lolling his head to his left, Wild watched as Pepp hopped on the spot in frustration; his round, green face scrunched up into a pout.

“No! Mr Hero should not be awake yet! It’s not morning! Go back to sleep! Like your friend! Go! Pepp will wake you when it’s morning!”

“Mmkay.” Wild mumbled, tongue heavy and mouth sluggish to move, he rolled onto his side and tightened his grip on Sky’s hand.

Catching blue and gold in the corner of his eye, he looked up to hold the silent stare of the Master Sword, sheathed and radiating a palpable power Wild could have only dreamed of.

“Wow.” He breathed, a lazy smile curling on his face, eyes slipping shut and veiling him in comfortable darkness.

Shuffling and sighing, he felt the warm static of sleep sneak up on him, more than happy to let it strike.

_‘Sleep well, Master.’_

  
  
━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━  
  


Wind plucked at the grass absently, twirling the supple blades between his fingers before releasing them to the waning oceanic breeze that scattered them over his lap. He was so _bored_ . He’d tried going off and exploring with Hyrule but Twilight had been quick to find _and_ reprimand them. It wasn’t fair.

It had been almost a week since Sky and Wild had embarked on their own private journey and Wind hadn’t been allowed out of the stable since. He was itching to run off, to vanish amongst the underbrush and fight inexplicable dangers! The stuff of legends! But _nooo_ , it’s not _safe_ Wind, we have to stick together.

Ugh.

Why couldn’t Sky and Wild have taken him with them?

Snickering as he came around the front of the stable, Four came to a stop as he caught sight of Wind, eyes glazed over with boredom and staring into the ground.

“Hey Wind, say, how do you think you’d look with pigtails?”

“Fucking adorable.” He sighed, leaning back and turning his gaze to the smaller Link.

“Excellent, let’s test that theory.”

“Not until you dye Warriors’ hair red.”

“Deal.” Four hummed, sitting down beside him and picking at another patch of grass by the flickering, blue fire’s light.

Groaning, Wind flopped back, rolling onto his side and staring off at the shrine opposite the extravagant tent.

“They’ll be back soon Wind.” Four whispered, annoyingly delicate and patient.

“I know.” He was not pouting. He was _not_. 

“And when they get back, Wild can cook up some seafood paella for you, to make up for the six days we went without actually edible food.”

Wind shuddered at the memory of all the burned and soggy attempts made in their resident chef’s absence.

“Yeah…” 

Trailing off he watched as the shrine pulsed just that little bit brighter than normal, ignoring Four as he continued to try and placate him, he studied its almost building momentum. 

And then he saw it.

Forming out of nothing and falling from the sky, thin blue lines swirled together, filling out into arms, legs…

“Fucking hell.” He breathed, watching as familiar faces bled through the blue before him.

“Hey! My cooking wasn’t _that_ bad, I...oh shit.”

Following his gaze, Four saw Wild and Sky land solidly on the shrine’s step, eyes opening and blinking in the dim light.

Scrambling off the ground and racing forward, Wind lit up. A bright beam stretching across his face as he sprinted towards the pair.

“YOU’RE BACK!”

Keeping his grip on Sky’s hand, Wild laughed and pulled him in, the pair leaning over to hug him tight.

“They’re back! Guys they’re- SHIT! WATCH IT, TWI!”

Quickly slamming in behind him, Wind was squished between Twilight and their recently returned brothers, air knocked out of him as Twilight squeezed the life out of Wild.

“Are you okay? You’re both fine? Please, _please,_ don’t ever leave again, please, it was _hell_ Wild - are you sure you’re okay - Time’s cooking is nightmare fuel-”

“Hey!”

Wild cackled, gratefully sucking in a breath as Twilight stepped back and, with a tired smile, quickly clapped Sky on the shoulder.

Gradually surrounded by their brothers, Sky and Wild accepted their hair ruffles and headlocks before being freed and led back to the stable by the swarm of Links, eager to put their feet up.

Hair dancing in the corner of his eye, Sky turned and watched as Wild’s smile only grew wider. Any remaining tension slowly leaving his body as he eyed their makeshift family walk on ahead of and around them - Twilight making sure to linger close by.

“Hey.”

Green-blue eyes turned to meet his gaze, cheeks red and rosy - looking every bit the boy he was robbed of being.

“I’m so proud of you.”

**Author's Note:**

> You've reached the end of this fic! Congrats! I hope you enjoyed! 
> 
> Firstly, I would like to thank everyone in the Linked Universe discord who showed such an avid interest in this work during its development - your kind words and enthusiasm really helped me get this fic finished and have so much fun with it, so thank you!
> 
> Secondly, the horses featured in this are horses I have in BOTW! Deity is named after Fierce Deity! I found her roaming by the remains of Lon Lon Ranch - she is black with a white mane and tail and haunting, blue eyes. Luck is the first ever horse I caught and I acCIDENTALLY GOT HER KILLED I'M SO SORRY LUCK (thank god Malanya exists)
> 
> Thirdly, I only just realised how much physical affection I put into this fic and I. Am not sorry.
> 
> Lastly, feel free to leave a kudos or a comment (PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU SEE ANY MISTAKES I WILL FIX THEM AS SOON AS I CAN) and I hope you have a nice day/night <3


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